School has started and Club Rush is approaching very quickly! The start of club rush indicates that general meetings will begin, and the small freshmen will start attending events as well. As much as I look forward to seeing new faces within Key Club, it also reminds me of my own beginnings in Key Club and how much I’ve grown since then. Although my work ethic has definitely gotten worse, I’ve become a much more social and extroverted person due to Key Club. The past me would not be able to even fathom who I’ve become. However, growth is a natural aspect of every person. It’s inevitable that you change in some way, especially in the span of 4 years. You meet new people who influence your way of thinking as well as people who encourage you to go out and truly live your life. You meet new people who can be a positive impact or some people who you wish you’ve never met. All of these people delve together to become the foundation of your experiences in life as well as who you are as a person. Generally, you’ll mature into a more loving, caring, and considerate person as you realize that the world does not revolve around you. So many people work and struggle endlessly to reach where they are and being able to acknowledge that is a major part of growth. Even if you don’t recognize it, you are changing. You are growing. Even if Key Club doesn’t play a pivotal part in that growth, I can only hope that you’re growing positively and will continue to shine! In the end, character grow is indeed one of the Key Club core values that I hope everyone can embody and accept.
Lydia Lee Lydia Lee OAKC President 2021-2022
Hey Sunnies! The school year has officially began and that means that Club Rush is right around the corner! Key Club meets every wednesday, and sign ups are open to grades 9-12. When I first joined Key Club, it felt like a home away from home, I was so thankful to have joined because the people I met have changed my life for the better. This marks my third year in Key Club, and my junior year of high school. Junior year is definitely as hard as everyone made it out to be, as I thought I’d be perfectly fine but I’m overloaded with homework assignments and sports. The best tip I recommend for new freshmans to do when they feel overwhelmed is to spend one hour doing whatever helps you de-stress before going back to your assignments. It refocuses you and makes sure that your brain can still absorb information. Don’t be me and pull all nighters only to fail exams because you can’t recall any information. Through Key Club, I’ve learned the importance of communicating and time management as it’s definitely hard to volunteer and stay on top of your work. It has been a club that marked my high school years, and I’m infinitely grateful for the people I have met. So if you see someone wearing a bow tie during Club Rush, be sure to come up and say hi and introduce yourself or ask any questions! I look forward to volunteering with everyone <3
Lynne Ta
Lynne Ta OAKC Bulletin Editor 2021-2022 Notes | 3
MON
5
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SEPTEMBER EVENTS: *may not be pictured on Calendar
Service Projects: Sept 29 - Oct 19 ★ Letters for Rose ★ Pause For In Person Events ( upcoming ): ★ Hope Food Distribution: Oct 2 ★ October Brookhurst Pantry: Oct 2 & 9 ★ Anaheim YMCA Cyclist Marathon: Oct 3 ★ Cypress Community Festival: Oct 7-10 ★ OC Japan Fair: Oct 15-17
MEMBERSHIP: KEY CLUB DUES: ★ $12 ( Membership Dues) ★ Due by: Sept 24 ★ Turn in Medical Release, Photo Release, and Parent Consent forms to Room 102 FALL RALLY SOUTH: $73 for all students Season Passholders: $31 ★ At Six Flags ★ Due by: Sept 27 ★ Turn in forms to Room 102
DIVISION ★ ★ ★ ★
September DCM: Sept 25 D30S Spirit Committee Application: Sept 22 Irvine Global Village Festival: Oct 9 D30S Paint n’ Picnic: Oct 3
Devanshi Kothari | 11 | Secretary Division Council Meetings are something I always look forward to! Whether they are in collaboration with other divisions or within our own, meeting new people, eating good food, and listening to updates from our division is always exciting and a great experience! August DCM was this past month at Modjeska Park. Firstly, my fellow members and I checked in by submitting our documents and paying my admission fee. Some clubs in the division had set up food fundraisers! For example, OAKC sold Krispy Kreme donuts and we sold out! For the first couple of minutes, we socialized, got our faces painted with our school colors, and bought food from the various food stands. Next, we had the actual DCM! Division updates were given, and recognition was announced. OAKC won 1st Shining Club of the month which was super exciting! After the DCM, we moved on to doing a card-writing service project and playing games such as Poncho. After Poncho, we had the school fashion show. Each school had a couple of representatives dressed head to toe in their school’s spirit gear and was wearing their school colors. Each club was spirited, passionate, and dressed to represent their school. Afterward, we played a couple of games. The first game we played was a rock-paper-scissors contest but with a hula hoop course, so member’s goals were to reach the other end of the course by winning at rock paper scissors against their opponents coming in the opposite direction. Next, we played Dragon Tail where members formed chains and each chain’s goal was to obtain the tail of another group. Lastly, we played a balloon popping game where individuals tied balloons to their ankles and their aim was to pop other people’s balloons while keeping theirs safe. Whoever was the last person standing with a balloon, won the game! To end off the DCM, we recognized the schools with the most points after the games we played as well as the most spirited from the fashion show. In all, this event was exciting, memorable, and enjoyable. It had something for everyone from service to fundraising to games and bonding. I hope we can continue having DCMs like this in the future! Helen Tran | 10 | Publicist At Modjeska Park on August 21, August DCM: Sunshine Olympics was held! The event itself went from 12:00-3:00 PM, though DLT came earlier to set up. There were incredibly fun activities such as a hula hoop rock paper scissors competition in which Key Clubbers could earn points for their respective schools. In the end, the team with the most spirit points won the Division spirit stick, receiving the title of the most spirited club! It was also great to see that our very own secretary, Devanshi Kothari, was recognized as division secretary of the month, while Oxford Academy Key Club was the First Shining Club of the month! We were so close to winning the spirit stick, but I suppose one wins some and loses some... There was also a service activity led by the D30S Activities Coordinators Ashlyn and Beverly where bookmarks were decorated to be donated! All the designs were so creative, and I hope the future recipients enjoy putting them to use. My personal favorite activity throughout the event was Poncho because the competition got pretty intense, and it was truly funny to see teams pulling out the most random dance moves when running out of ideas. Regardless of the pressure as someone who was helping run the event, I think it was a great DCM, especially considering it was back in person again! I can’t wait for all the rest of our events, and good luck with school to everyone reading this :) Leann Vo | 11 | Treasurer With the Olympics just finishing up, D30S’s August DCM theme was the Sunshine Olympics where volunteers got the chance to complete in a wide variety of fun events including sports and a service project. After completing the DCM portion of the event, which included Oxford Academy winning 1st Shining Club or the Month, we moved onto the service project. Volunteers were able to decorate bookmarks to be donated. Volunteers also got to play lots of fun games and socialize with each other. For this DCM, I decided to sell donuts to our division and around halfway through the DCM, we had already sold out of all four dozen donuts. Overall, I had a fantastic experience at this DCM as I had not seen this many people at an event in a while. I am definitely looking forward to next month’s DCM.
August DCM | 9
Zuleyka Urieta | 12 | Historian A division council meeting(DCM) takes place every month with all the schools that are a part of division 30 south: the division that Oxford Academy key club pertains to. A DCM is an opportunity for key clubbers to meet new people within the division, participate in service projects, and be updated by the Lieutenant Governor on the progress of the division as a whole. So far in the 2021-2022 term there have been 2 in person DCMS: “Beach Boomba” and most recently “Sunshine Olympics.” Sunshine Olympics took place at Modjeska Park on August 21st, the perfect location for key clubbers to meet and have fun as a division! At the DCM key clubbers participated in various activities such as bookmark decorating, an unforgettable fashion show, a rock paper scissors hula hoop relay race, and more. In addition to these activities, several schools within the division held food fundraisers where they sold yummy snacks. Oxford Academy key club sold Krispy Kreme donuts and had the division enjoying glazed donuts, selling out only minutes into the DCM! Alongside the successful fundraiser, Oxford Academy celebrated receiving the 1st shining club of the month award as well as the service stick! Personally I have never been to a DCM that I didn’t extremely enjoy or meet new people. Sunshine Olympics specifically allowed me to connect with both old and new friends that I’ve made within the division over the past four years. I especially enjoy DCMS now, for I have the opportunity as Oxford Academy’s historian of capturing the memories made throughout the day through plenty of pictures. With that being said, I look forward to experiencing what the next DCMS have in store not only for Oxford Academy key club but our division as well. If you’ve never attended a DCM I highly encourage you to come out and experience the fun for yourself and get the chance to learn more about our division and it’s members! Kelly Vo | 10 | Tech Editor The month of August. Summer’s over and school starts, heading to the start of the end of the wonderful 2021 year. As we have every month, the monthly DCM rolled around. This time to recognize the summer Olympics by hosting our own Division Olympics! Signing in around 11:50, I was instantly amazed with the circle of food stands that each school had. Not going to lie, some of them were very creative and eye-catching (tip: that’s how you start a good business). A little after 12:00, people were called to the court, where our amazing LTG and executive assistants led the division meeting. To our surprise, Oxford Academy was announced the Shining Club of the month (congrats)! After the exciting award ceremony, we then regrouped with our school to make bookmarks, using stickers and markers to decorate them. The fashion show came right after, and Victoria, Megan, and Bryan ruled the walkway with their USA dress-up. Sadly, we didn’t get first place, but I think we deserved the win there. Next was the poncho game, where we would dance and avoid copying the same dance moves as the other groups. Even with our amazing dance moves, we were called out (faulty call) and got eliminated early out in the game. Unfortunate, but Oxford Academy had no time to waste, as we had other games to win. Bringing us down the hill and onto the two pathways made from hula hoops. Lines were made on both sides, and the goal was to play rock, paper, scissors and continue until you reached the end of the line. However, once you lose, you must go back in line. Oxford came in second with a tie, not the best, but not the worst. We then played a game where we had to pop balloons of other colors than our own and remain as the last color. Again, we weren’t victorious. Our last game was a variant of dragon tail, where we ended up just playing elimination mode. Pull the flag off the bottom of the snake, and the team is out. Not really sure where we placed, but I would have to say about 2nd place. As the DCM came to a closing, we had our raffle and took pictures, and chilled for a bit. A great ending to such an amazing event.
August DCM | 9
Kenneth Nguyen |11 | Project Chair The school year has started, but that doesn't mean Key Club has ended!!! You can still participate in Key Club service projects and events. If you are reading this, I assume that you joined Key Club as a member and have paid dues, but if you haven't, make sure to sigh up by filling out all the forms necessary and paying the $12 member fee! Key Club during the school year is basically the same as summer Key Club, with virtual projects and in person events. With virtual projects, you can continue to participate and submit them on Google Forms, while you can sign up to attend in-person even through Sign Up Genius! There are much less events during the school year because most events have to happen on weekends, so make sure to sign up to as much and as early as you can! Along with these typical events/projects are general meetings! Usually they are led every Wednesday, but it may change (although you probably know what day by the time you read this). At these in-person general meetings, there is a presentation led by the president, which this year is Lydia Lee. Topics can include Key Club related information, updates on current events, or announcements such as Member of the Month! I can't wait to attend our meetings, since I haven't attended once since March 11th, 3 days before quarantine started. Recalling the last in-person meeting I went to, I remember I was devastated along with Key Club members of CO 2021 and CO 2022, when we heard the volunteering events at Pooch Match, OA Prom, March DCM and a ton of other events were cancelled, along with DCON. With that being said, with everything slowly coming back to "normal", I hope to see you at future general meetings and events!
Kaylin Chan | 10 | Historian Key Club is an international organization that is heavily student-run and completely student based. It is sponsored by Kiwanis, and is classified as a high school club. All clubs go through their school’s ASB account when it comes to activities, paperwork, and money, but Key Club has a separate governing board and system, as well. Once you step into this world of Key Club officials, as a club board member, as a member of the Division Leadership Team, a member of the District teams, or you hold an international position, the responsibilities are heavy, important, and very crucial. Responsibility is an admired quality in many people, and for Key Club leaders, their responsibilities are often a double-edged sword. They gain recognition and experience in exchange for their hard work that may prevent certain things, or may go unnoticed. For instance, I am sure there is so much that all the executive board does that the appointed board does not, and vice versa. Every single member, from the publicists to the spirit coordinators to the service project chair to bulletin editor to the historians, all have their own struggles and their own hard work that no one sees. An example I have realized over the past month is actually both my own experience as a historian, and my fellow Key Club officers. During events, such as DCMs, historians are to document and record the occurring events through photos. They rarely get to be in the photos, unless another historian takes a photo of another historian. Furthermore, they may not be able to enjoy the activities as much, as they must go around taking photos and capturing the activity, rather than get blurry, low-quality photos while attempting to also do the activity. We have to pick and choose, and find a balance between our duties and our personal enjoyment. Above all, being an officer means that you make sacrifices to fulfill your duties to the best of your ability. That is the commitment made to your fellow officers and the Key Clubbers you are responsible for. This doesn’t mean an officer cannot have fun! They just need to find fun in what they do and enjoy their opportunity to work as a Key Club officer!
Social | 11
Joseph Lukas | 12 | Spirit Chair Hey Suns! We recently pulled off another amazing social on August 29th, and this time, we collaborated with Savanna Key Club and Whitney Key Club. I was really excited for this social because I really wanted to get to know more people from both clubs, and the planning for this social was really fun! I was very happy that this social was a success, and this was a fun way to lighten the darkness that the beginning of the school year cast upon us. The first thing that was done at the social was announce the fundraisers that were happening. Oxford sold for $2, Ice Cream for $1, and both for $3. Whitney sold Milk Tea and Thai Tea with boba for $4 a cup. They were both pretty successful in my opinion, as both fundraisers were close to selling out. Then, Leia (Whitney’s Spirit Chair) and I let everyone introduce themselves by playing a game of Huggie Bear. When people were out after every round, they got to introduce themselves to the group. I feel like this was a good method to allow everyone to get to know each other, but I should’ve maybe kept everyone together instead of letting them go back so everyone got to hear each other’s name. After introductions were made, everyone got a 5-minute break to go continue supporting the fundraisers if they didn’t get a chance to do so already. After the 5-minute break, we played a couple rounds of Soulmate! The way Soulmate works is that everyone will be standing up, and a volunteer will be asked questions about the things they like. These questions are usually this-or-that questions, and everyone else will either remain standing or sit down after every response the volunteer makes. A person would sit down if they disagreed with the choice that the volunteer made, while a person would remain standing if they agreed with the choice that the volunteer made. Once someone sits down, they can’t stand up again until the game is over. The last person standing is the volunteer’s soulmate. We played 3 rounds of soulmate, and it was a fun game to play! It was interesting to hear each volunteer’s response to the questions that were asked, and it was even more interesting to see who agreed with each volunteer. After the rounds of Soulmate, the service activity began! The service activity for this event was Color-A-Smile, so everyone got a coloring sheet and began to color away. It was a nice service project that didn’t require too much thought and effort, and it allowed people to still talk to each other and enjoy their time at the social. It was also very cool to see how talented everyone is at drawing. A lot of the drawings were so pretty! After ~50 minutes of the service project, we transitioned to our final activity, which was a game of Spoons! Since we didn’t have spoons available to us, we used the color pencils from the Color-A-Smile service project instead. There were 3 games of Spoons going on simultaneously, and it was quite a sight to see when some people would grab for the color pencils while others didn’t notice. I enjoyed watching people play and get frantic over how someone was going very slowly to make sure they kept the cards that they wanted. I didn’t expect Spoons to take up a lot of time though, so I wish that Leia and I allotted more time to finish the game. Once the Spoons game was over, there were only 15 minutes left of the social. The rest of the time was used to take club photos and one big social photo. After the event, I spent some time to ensure that we didn’t leave any trash at the gazebo, since littering is not safe-key!!! All in all, the social was a success, and I couldn’t be happier at how it turned out in the end. Make sure to stay alert for the next social Suns! After how the past 2 socials happened, I can assure you that you don’t want to miss the next ones!!
Social | 11
Victoria Tran | 10 | Project Chair This month, I went to the Monarch Butterfly Event at Mile Square Park, and I had one of the best times volunteering. However, I did grow a hate for butterflies from this event. At the beginning of the event, we helped set up the arts and crafts station and since we finished setting up early, we were given time to do some of the arts and crafts ourselves. I made some cute paper butterflies and got to color a butterfly shaped mask. Once the event started, it was little slow at first and not many kids came. I got the opportunity to help little kids make paper butterflies and once the event started to get busy, I was moved to manage the face paint lines. This job was tiring because I had to interact and deal with a lot of parents and children. The fun part about the job was that a lot of the little kids were adorable and cute. I must admit that I did get baby fever from this event! Not to mention, some of the parents were lining up for the face paint themselves and they were entertaining to talk to. Near the end of the event, the volunteer coordinator allowed us to take a lunch break and explore the event ourselves. I got to get my own face painted for free with the design of a butterfly on a rainbow on my forehead and a dragon was painted across my arm! This event gave out so much free things, it was crazy. I got a free butterfly crown made of balloons, a plant, sunglasses, and bracelets. The part of the event that had me the most traumatized was when I had to volunteer inside the butterfly tent. In this tent, there were live butterflies flying around and my responsibility was to manage all the kids and parents inside it. A butterfly landed on my shirt and stayed on there for a while. I thought it was fun and cute at first, but then I realized it used my shirt as its own toilet and before I knew it, there was butterfly droppings on me. Ever since, I felt greatly betrayed by the butterfly. Its looks deceived me as something beautiful, but the reality was that up close, its horrendous, betraying insect. This event gave me a little nostalgia of what events my parents would take me to as a little kid. Even though I am a bit traumatized from my experience with the live butterflies, I am glad I was able to volunteer and take a trip down memory lane at the same time.
Social | 11
Rachel Kim | 10 | Historian Beach Boomba was a blast! Being my first ever in-person DCM and an annual event, that was skipped last year due to the pandemic, Beach Boomba and July DCM were probably memorable to everyone who attended. There were quite a lot of people there, as there were Key Clubbers all in Region 3, which includes D04W, D04E, D30S, D04C, D04N, D04S, and D30N. Because we were all wearing our spirit gear and colors, it was a sea of rainbow colors. Although it was kind of strange seeing so many people from different districts of Region 3, it felt very welcoming and enjoyable to hang out with different people. Taking place at Huntington Beach, there was a nice view of the ocean, sand, sky while we were participating in different activities. When we first got there, we had a clothespin event where we wrote our names and division on a clothespin and put in a bin where they were mixed up. When they were scattered around, we grabbed a random clothespin and went to find the original owner of it, forcing ourselves to socialize with other people in our region. We also had a big relay race in mixed-up teams. In my group, there was no one I knew, although there was one person from my district. Still, I did my best to have fun amidst the hot weather and rigorous activities. This relay race included getting buried in the sand, crab-walking, and a form of a photo scavenger hunt! I was exhausted and hot by the end of it, but it was fun talking to my teammates and seeing other groups having fun as well! We had pizza for lunch and eventually had our monthly DCM. Oxford Academy had a member getting an award and we also won first shining club of the month! It was an exciting few hours, and I was glad to have visited the beach in so long. Unfortunately, my feet got sunburnt and my legs became extremely tanned due to a lack of sunscreen. Now I know that I will have to constantly put on a lot of sunscreen the next time I go to an event! Also, I will definitely invite my friends over for another Key Club event, and so should you!
Article | 13